DIME FEATURED ARTIST: CASSIE ARNOLD

Alyssa Stevenson July 18, 2013

Once a month, we partner up with Denton's local, handmade goods shop, DIME, to highlight an artist that is carried in their store. This month, we're chatting with Cassie Arnold about both her fun items for sale in the DIME store and her fine art work that she has on display in various art shows and galleries. Make sure to check out The DIME Store on South Locust, and read on to hear all about this month's featured artist.

For this month’s DIME featured maker, we caught up with Cassie Arnold and her eclectic collection of found-object art. The DIME Store carries Cassie’s line of inventive fiber “creatures”, but this girl has so much more up her sleeve. Read on to learn about her handmade critters, unusual assemblages, and how she balances her two feet in the two sides of the art world: craft and fine art.

What all kinds of work do you make?

From found object assemblages to hand knitted fibers, I dabble in a little bit of everything! I love the challenge of exploring new materials, and there’s nothing more thrilling for me than deciding whether I will work with clay, found objects, acrylic, or fibers for my next body of work. Storytelling is a key feature in my art, so whatever medium best narrates my experience at that time is what I use.

What draws you to the types of materials you use?

I’m a believer in second chances, so naturally I am drawn to all things rusted and worn. There’s something magical about breathing life into objects that would normally have been forgotten. I like to think of myself as a collector of “things,” and I love waiting for just the right moment when I can reuse an item and make it shine in a work of art.

What originally drew you to the overall "handmade" community?

I grew up in a big family full of writers, artists, needle workers, and avid crafters. By the age of five, sewing on a button was as natural as tying my shoes. I thank my mother for my love of creating because it was her who first taught me how to craft and sew. As an adult, I am not only drawn to handmade items but also the person who made it. I love hearing their story, learning where they came from, and discovering how they perfected their craft.

What do you love about the fine art community?

That last word…COMMUNITY! I love being surrounded by unique, crazy, enthusiastic people who are lovers of life and art! It’s refreshing living in Denton where people not only respect the arts but support it as well.

How do you balance having one foot in the handmade market and one in the fine art market?

To be honest, I’m not quite sure I’ve found balance just yet! One day I wake up as, “Cassie Arnold: artist and sculptor,” and the next I’m transformed into a crafter, wanting to create something handmade for the sake of creation itself. The art world can be tricky. People tend to look at you funny when you say that you are an artist while knitting a baby sweater. “Handmade” is who I am at my core. It’s what originally got me curious about the arts and is the reason why I give support and have such respect for local people making and creating.

How did you become involved with DIME?

I heard through the grapevine about a lovely new space in Denton that supported local artists and crafters. Naturally I was intrigued, so my husband, my new baby and I stopped by one night to check it out. I instantly fell in love with the space and the curators. The DIME store is warm and cozy. It’s a space that invites you in like a best friend’s home and inspires you to rush back to your own home and create. After one talk with Miss Rachel, she investigated my work and invited me to be a part of their handmade “home.”

How does the Dallas art/handmade scene differ from the one in Denton?

To be honest, they are a lot alike. Both are all about endorsing local artists, promoting the arts, and bringing awareness to the community about the importance of supporting the handmade. Despite its size though, Denton keeps the small town feel that makes it easier to connect with the community and other artists in the area.

Do you have any advice for aspiring artists who are looking to start a business or become an active part of the Denton creative community?

Don’t be scared to put yourself out there! Rejection is part of the job and being turned away doesn’t mean that your creations aren’t meaningful or special. I promise that even the most unique, unusual and creative works will find their perfect space eventually as long as you’re willing to take risks and be patient.

You can purchase Cassie Arnold's handmade fiber works (i.e. dolls and knitted pieces) at the Dime store or from her Etsy page. Her fine art pieces can be purchased at the Artisan's Collective in Dallas' Bishop Arts District or at local area art shows such as the Art Festival in Deep Ellum.

LITERARY ARTIST: DARIN BRADLEY

Alyssa Stevenson July 16, 2013

Words by Harlin Anderson, Image by Erin Rambo

We recently cornered local novelist, Darin Bradley, as he sipped a beer by the smoker and stoked the coals under a batch of his special recipe Lemon Pepper Chicken. Talk inevitably turned to his critically-acclaimed debut novel, Noise, but damned if we weren’t distracted by the smell of that yard bird. Lucky for you, we got the whole chat transcribed all fancy like.

Noise is one of the most horrifying books we’ve ever read. What drove you to embark on such a dark literary undertaking?

It wasn't always so disturbing. The original idea was simple: two young men who rise to power in an unstable U.S. based solely on their wits and resourcefulness. It wasn't an overly sophisticated concept, and I carried it around in the back of my mind for several years while I worked on other projects. When I finally decided it was time to write Noise (it was called Amaranth back then), I decided that I needed to know the architecture behind re-making the U.S. (Was there a "right way" to do something like this? Should my characters follow some Plan?) As the story came together, and international financial collapse became the stage, the earliest tenets of "The Book" began to surface (the guide the characters assemble in the novel to help them establish their nation-state). It became clear very quickly that I needed to actually write the entire "Book" before approaching the story, so I asked myself straightforward questions about what I would do to survive and protect my loved ones if the rule of law collapsed. I didn't always like the answers I came up with, but I felt they were true to the spirit of the exercise. It's this hard-line, no-exceptions, survival-at-all-costs program that made the novel as dark as it became. My characters adhered to my "Book" with dangerous, obsessive exactitude, and the results were pretty gruesome.

You created sympathetic, likable characters and then put them through absolute hell. Does that take its toll on you in real life?

Absolutely. The characters in Noise are portraits of real people—myself included. Many of Hiram's memories are my own, so to revisit them under circumstances that twisted their meanings and contexts wasn't exactly pleasant. I had to surprise myself with the cold, surgical violence in order to later surprise my readers with it—there's a fine line between believable shock value and engineered shtick, and staying on the right side of it, for me, involves not really knowing what you're doing at every given moment. My characters are young (early twenties) and angry and confused—just as most of us are at that age. The apocalypse occurring around them becomes just a giant metaphor for their tumultuous inner lives as they try to make the world work the way they want it to. When the world pushes back, it's difficult to just powerlessly read about the psycho-social damage this must be doing to those kids. In the real world, I'm a tolerant, progressive Denton townie—it definitely felt weird to borrow sociopathy and Fascism as I wrote the novel.

The town in Noise seems eerily familiar. Any truth to the rumor that it's actually set in a fictionalized Denton?

Ha! Yes: completely true. Here's the very duplex I lived in that appears in the novel: I renamed it Slade, and I moved a few things around, but it's absolutely supposed to be Denton. I didn't want to be restricted by the actual layout of Denton, in case I needed to take creative license, so I just rebranded it. Some of the streets even retain their real names, but some were jazzed up a bit for the fiction: Carroll became "Broadway" (even though Denton already has a Broadway), and Hickory became "Meyer." In a way, the book dates itself by the portrait it paints of Denton. In Noise, there are still longhorns grazing in the old Rayzor pasture, and Fry St. looks like it did before the recent developments (including a fragment of a burned-down pizza place). If you remember what the parking lot behind Cool Bean's looked like five years ago, then you've got the perfect mental stage for Hiram's gruesome act of vehicular assault against the "Strip Rat"—see, even Fry Rats made their way in.

What’s your connection to this area?

I moved to Denton in 1999, earned all three degrees here, burned through a fair portion of my twenties, and then my wife and I moved to the Carolinas in 2007. I had just finished a Ph.D. in cognitive theory and experimental literature, so I was positively buzzing with, quite possibly, the most sophisticated trains of thought I'll ever have in my lifetime. And I was unemployed. And homesick. Noise arose from this miasma and became, in many ways, a lament for the city I didn't think we'd ever come back to. I burned it down—a sort of exorcism so I could move on with the next chapter of my life. Luckily, though, we came back in 2010, and now we're here to stay.

What items should be in everyone’s bug out bag?

Mundane things. The first thing everyone wants to reach for is an AK or a sword or a shoulder-mounted anti-tank weapon. But you're going to need water purification technology, bandages, food, and fire starters. (Unless you want to cheat, like Hiram, and just beat people up and steal their stuff.) But, to be fair, I'm not bugging out without my revolver . . .

What are you working on these days?

I'm writing the third book of what I think of as the Noise Cluster. The books don't comprise a trilogy, but they do represent three different experiments in the worlds of collapse, depression, and identity. With each new book, I try to challenge myself to write something more compelling--more contemplative—so I hope this final title will hold to that tradition. We'll see. I'm supposed to be writing it right now, but thank god you came along with these questions because I was really just staring out the window. You know: "writing."

EXCERPT from Noise

We got the jump because we lived near the square. Walking distance. Slade was like most small Texas towns--it radiated outward from the old courthouse. At some point, someone had paved the original hitching yards and erected a cenotaph for the Civil War dead. There were water fountains on each pillar, each with its own inscription: White. Colored. They both still worked. There were pecan trees with dubious histories.

Livery posts, hardware stores, and hotels had clustered slowly around the squared avenue--the buildings still stared at the courthouse-turned-museum, the remnants of their painted-brick signs now protected by city codes. Those businesses were all something else now--candy shops, bars, high-end boutiques. But they had several signs each. Meyer's Pawn was the most important to us. Guitars and drum sets and stereos filled its storefront windows--the ejecta of the nearby university. Its bread-and-butter music program, mostly. Slade still lived because the university owned most of it. Sweet Pine, Siwash, and Minnie Falls, all nearby, had dried up when they were supposed to, half a century before. When Slade should’ve gone.

But we didn't care about instruments. Meyer's had tools, too.

We got the jump. We’d been watching Salvage for months, so we knew what to do.

We knew enough.

Novelist, Eagle Scout, documentarian, linguist, video game writer, brew master, and student of the smoker, Darin Bradley is a true Renaissance Man who makes his home right here in the heart of Denton. Keep an eye out for his next project, and if you haven’t yet read Noise – turn off the television and crack a damn fine book. We guarantee you won’t regret it.

Harlin Anderson is the underground BBQ champion of Denton, Texas. When he's not digging through crates of vinyl at Recycled Books or Mad World Records, he can be found manning the smoker on the back patio at Dan's Silver Leaf - or wherever there are hungry musicians. His lives with his wife, Ashley, and their three furry children: Earl, Jake, and Nanette the Pocket Beagle. He prefers to stay comfortably within the Denton city limits at all times.

3 SONGS - JUNE

will milne June 27, 2013

Every month, we like to take a quick look into the Denton music scene and highlight three recent songs from current Denton bands. Last month, we heard from Daniel Markham, Biographies and Bashe. This month, two of our three entries harken back to Denton music of the recent past. A pretty big Denton band released a nice single yesterday and we'd love to share it with ya, but it's streaming exclusively on Paste right now. Oh well. Read on to hear music from the likes of Paul Henry North, Savage and the Big Beat and Strange Towers.

Savage and the Big Beat is our local pop rock band. They write extremely bombastic rock songs that wouldn’t sound out of place on A Night At the Opera. Heck, lead vocalist, Max Brown, even sounds like Freddie Mercury. This song is as dynamic as anything off of their new EP, We Are Defenders, which you can pick up at their album release show on June 29th at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

Strange Towers

So, we’ve been waiting for these dudes to put out a song for us to feature on this column for a while now, and we’re still waiting. That said, we’re just going to grab this low quality video recording of a recent Strange Towers practice off of their Facebook page to share with you. We normally like to stick to embeddable songs, but we're making an exception in this case. The video should give you a good idea of what to expect from this soon-to-be Denton powerhouse. Strange Towers marries the technical proficiency of one-time Denton rockers Record Hop with the spastic wonderful weirdness of The Undoing of David Wright, and it doesn’t end up like that new Omar Rodriguez Lopez band, thankfully. By the way, if those two name drops haven’t piqued your interests, go do yourself a little Googlin’ and come back. You can hear more Strange Towers (and bug ‘em for recorded material) at their next show this Thursday, June 27th at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios.

Paul Henry North is one of the few remaining Sleepwhale/Mom side-projects in what was once a sea of incestuous bands that all were great. This track showcases just how far North has come as a songwriter in the years since he earned his Pitchfork stripes back in 2009 with his song Waving Hands. Back then, North was recording under the moniker Sunnybrook, but he's since grown as a musician and lost the name. While maintaining the same lo-fi ramshackle sound, North has really managed to create a sort of reigned-in manageable chaos in this beautiful tune that is really easy to get lost in. “The Lonely One” was recorded using one of the much sought after Copperphone copper microphones North helps manufacture through Placid Audio.

INTERVIEW: SPIDERWEB SALON

will milne June 27, 2013

*Conor Wallace and Courtney Marie of Spiderweb Salon.*

You've probably heard the name Spiderweb Salon before. We say it a lot on the blog, whether it's on our Den10 or through sharing some of their literary work, but you might still be confused as to what it is. They sure as heck aren't gonna cut your hair. They're a "salon" as described by definition # 2 and they are everywhere. Spiderweb curates live shows and zines that feature all kinds of work from Denton artists - and they've been doing this for a year now. Within the span of that year, they got a lot accomplished. A gaggle of zines, a showcase during 35 Denton and plenty of recognition from art lovers. Conor Wallace and Courtney Marie are the two creative masterminds behind Spiderweb Salon. We hung out with them a bit in anticipation of their one year anniversary show (and pool party!) this weekend and asked them a couple questions, but never got to the bottom of why Courtney hates citrus so damned much.

WDDI: Who are you guys again?

Conor: Well, I’ve lived in Denton my entire life. I work for Denton ISD transportation- during the day I drive youth from home to school. I am also a singer and a song writer and make music with my friends here in town, which is how I met Courtney Marie.

Courtney: I have lived here five and a half years. I currently work as a barista at Jupiter House to pay the bills. My passions include books, writing, photography, music, cooking, poetry, art, and my friends.

What inspired you to start Spiderweb Salon?

Conor: I missed seeing my writer-friends doing readings, and I play music but not everything I write fits with a band, so I thought it would be neat to get everyone together to share what we are working on creatively, to talk about it and encourage one another. I used to be a part of a similar thing at Tex Gallery a few years ago, but it wasn’t as focused on local artists, it was more about something new for the audience, things other venues in town wouldn’t necessarily host. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t feel comfortable performing there myself because my stuff didn’t feel avant garde enough.

Courtney: I had lost my job just before the summer and was feeling pretty aimless and depressed. I thought I was going to move away from Denton, but instead, one thing led to another and we started Spiderweb Salon. Conor and I were trying to find something to do that would nurture our various creative interests, inspire and motivate us and our friends to keep creating, and also be fun. It was a great idea to me because as a writer, I have found there are few outlets for readings or workshops in town, especially not affiliated with the Universities.

The two of you started operating creatively together as {we, bees} before Spiderweb Salon was created. Do you operate differently within the context of your band and Spiderweb or are all of your creative interactions the same?

Courtney: I first really got into music, singing specifically, with Conor and several other good friends when I joined their band Ella Minnow in 2010. The bands we play in together are very collaborative, there are lots of people involved and I usually don’t take the reins. {we, bees} is different, it’s just the two of us brainstorming and making art and putting ideas into action. Our collaborations have included poetry, music, various writings and art, and photography projects, but the biggest project is, of course, Spiderweb Salon.

Conor practically vomits ideas- while I struggle to come up with even a single concept I like or something I’ve deemed worthy of working on, he’s already come up with a hundred different proposals. I am incredibly hard on myself as an artist, and one of the million things Conor has taught me is to accept imperfections, be myself, and let go of the things that keep me from doing what I want to do with my time and passion.

Conor: {we, bees} is anything creative that Courtney and I work on together. I feel like the longer we work together, the more we approach projects as a unit, as equal contributors. As far as Spiderweb is concerned, I don’t think I ever would have gotten it off the ground without Courtney Marie, and it definitely wouldn’t still be around right now. She has taken the idea and built a community out of it. I help a lot with brainstorming ideas and working out the logistics of what we do, but as far as passion and organization are concerned, Courtney is the queen bee.

Tell us the inspiration behind and the reasons for the Spiderweb mantra - ‘You are here, we support you.’

Courtney: Think of your creative life as a map. You could be doing a thousand different things, all over the place, but when you are at a Spiderweb show, all that matters is that you are there, expressing yourself and learning and growing. You are here, but you get to decide where you’re going, too. That’s what it means to me, at least, and I think it is a good mantra because it is open to interpretation. We support you is pretty simple. I think artists are not always effectively encouraged or nurtured by the community. A simple reminder such as this might do wonders for someone who is struggling.

Conor: To me, You Are Here means whoever you are, any fears or preconceptions about creating art or performing at a show are dropped and you can just give yourself to the creative project you’re working on and the people who are there to support you. You shouldn’t be afraid of where you are creatively. That’s how we get better.

To us, Spiderweb seems to push poetry above all else (at least recently). Is this a calculated choice? If so, why?

Conor: I can see why you would think that, after National Poetry month just happening in April, and with the recent show we hosted for some traveling poets, but we are definitely a mixed-media, mixed-performance collective and don’t want to highlight any art form over anything else except for specific showcases. I will say there aren’t many venues for poets to perform, and we are glad to give them the opportunity.

Courtney: If there is a need for artists to be heard and respected in Denton, we’d like to be able to fill it. Recently, some poets from Chicago asked if we’d be willing to host their tour if it came through our town and we were delighted to be able to make it a variety show completely balanced with local acts as well. We’d never done anything like that before and we would definitely do it again! It’s fun that Spiderweb has become a flexible venue in this way. The focus is always shifting, but never about one specific artist or art form: rather, it is simply ideas, collaboration, and supporting others.

“Tragically, I think art in many forms has been dominated by men in the past, and seeing proof that this can change in the future is inspiring to me.”

— Conor Wallace

What’s been your favorite Spiderweb Salon performance so far? What did you enjoy about it?

Conor: Maybe not a particular performance, but there have been at least three times I have said, “This is my favorite Spiderweb Salon show.” I love the idea of celebration without any precedent- a holiday or some long-term achievement -so when we had our masquerade last fall, where people were dressing up and painting their faces, and making art that reflected the event, I thought that was really great- the whole evening had a wild and unexpected tone.

I also really loved the first Ladies’ Night Showcase. Tragically, I think art in many forms has been dominated by men in the past, and seeing proof that this can change in the future is inspiring to me. Social change you can see.

Courtney: I have to agree with Conor, it would be impossible to single out a performance that has been my favorite! The great thing about Spiderweb is the collective experience. Each show as a whole is incredibly powerful, which is why we encourage attendees to come before the show begins and stay until all the acts are finished. Not only is this respectful to all the artists involved, but it promotes the idea of the show itself being the performance, with everyone working together. I sometimes compare this experience to attending the theatre- you wouldn’t show up halfway through a play and leave before it finished!

I have really loved the shows we’ve had at the house venue, but recently hosting events in a more public space has been really positive- it’s awesome to be able to reach more people and bring the artists involved in our collective a little more exposure.

The Ladies’ Night Showcase was also a favorite of mine, everyone worked so hard: the all-female lineup had everything from shadow puppets to a performance piece that connected everyone in the audience to each other with a rope, incredibly passionate readings and music and awesome paintings; it made my heart happy, and the fundraiser aspect let us give back to the community while we were doing it. We look forward to hosting a similar showcase soon, for sure.

Which area of the arts do you think Denton is the most under-appreciated for?

Conor: People know us for our colleges, our college of music, our music festival, and a few national musical acts that have made it out of here. Music is highlighted above all else, but I think it could still be appreciated on a different level, both locally and nationally. We sometimes forget about our writers, poets, visual artists, and they’re everywhere, I think the architecture of the town has not yet found a way to showcase them properly. I’m not saying our artists should be legends held above the rest of the population, but it would be nice to see all of our creatives embraced and nurtured.

Courtney: Literature. There is an incredible number of talented writers and poets here. I don’t think we as a community are suffering from a lack of appreciation, but I definitely think we have a problem with how we go about promoting the literary events we already have, and cultivating the creativity of writers in our midst. There’s a huge push in Denton to support local music, which is great, but I envision a culture where all art can co-exist on the same stage.

Are there any collectives that influence the way you guys operate?

Conor: I already mentioned Tex Gallery... Good Bad Art Collective, The Porch, Bolivar Art Collective, even the Denton Greater Art’s council. Hell, even the universities. We’ve tried to go and learn about events hosted by these people, and I guess we pay them tribute when we find something in them that works for us.

Why do you think that Spiderweb has caught on so quickly in Denton?

Conor: We’ve made ourselves accessible and inclusive, and we have such a high population of people that are without a place to collaborate with others or showcase their creativity. Personally, I don’t think of this as an organization or a business, I think of this as a social group or family. I think that open, caring nature comes through in the things we do.

Courtney: The format of our shows is unique, and we put a lot of emphasis on respecting artists. I think that is something that is often neglected at other events in town, whether it’s an open mic or rock show, either people get distracted or they’re there to socialize. We operate under the idea that you come to our shows for a reason, to appreciate the art and learn something. I think the people who are involved in Spiderweb Salon appreciate that, and it makes them want to come back.

What are your future plans for Spiderweb Salon?

Courtney: We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, and let it continue to evolve the way it has this last year. Someday we would like our own space where we can host shows, workshops, and have a permanent gallery. Until then we want to continue to collaborate with local organizations, print zines and host showcases and workshops from our home and at local businesses, support as many artists we can, give back to the community, and have fun.

Conor: I would like to see interest grow and more contribution, from artists and from our town as a whole. We would like to be a cultural influence on Denton and help shift the focus to our artists and our people, rather than mainstream media. I believe we should try to support people we know, that we can see and touch, more than nameless celebrities we will never meet.

If you want to celebrate Spiderweb's 1 year anniversary, go RSVP on their event page.

GEAR'D: LAST SUNDAYS

will milne June 26, 2013

Words by Aaron White, Photos by Will Milne

Samuel Clemens, infamous Foghorn Leghorn impersonator, once quipped, “Son, I say, a career in music has about the life span of a quail egg in the presence of Tim Love, boy.”

Odds are that most who attempt to make a living in music will fail to do so, for myriad reasons, yet tens if not millions of hopefuls move to Denton each year with designs on just that; their vision narrowed by the enthusiasm and delusion of youth, mental illness and/or THC. It stands to reason that with the large population of musicians, both independent and those attending the UNT Jazz program, there are several established instrument sales and service businesses in town. While the mainstays are readily apparent in a google search, there are some custom, more nimble shops and tradespeople we think are worth noting.

In a remarkable development for a music community with deep, old roots, Tex Bosley and Tom Miller, brother-proprietors of Tex’s Tubs Drum Co. and Miller Guitar Works, respectively, are providing DIY-minded musicians something new and innovative. While both offer a host of services for repair and custom builds of drum kits and guitars, they are opening their shop to the public. A potential godsend for those without the work area and tools required to properly maintain what most neglect - the instruments of their trade.

Starting on Sunday June 30th, from 11am to 2pm, pros and amateurs alike can benefit from a new program/hang-out/workshop aimed at educating and providing the necessary (and expensive) materials to the music community, while highlighting the more professional technical services they provide. For those willing to sacrifice a beater guitar in order to learn how to shape a compound fretboard radius, or simply glean from the experts how to evenly round a bearing edge on a floor tom, there is now a guided DIY space available.

Tex described Last Sundays as such, “We open the shop, you bring your instruments and have at it. We will help you, to a point, and the regular menu of professional services are open to everyone. We are there to help people make their instruments sound and play how they want them to. Come out for hot dogs, beer and shop access, then we’ll all go to Dan’s to see Hares On The Mountain afterward.”

There's free shop access, professional guidance, and a hang with someone you most likely know. Throw in some refreshments and free knowledge and you have a recipe for some amazing results. If you hit a snag or realize you’re in over your head, Tex or Tom is there to take it off your hands and provide their services. If we sound a bit wide-eyed and reverent, it may be because we’ve had a growing list of things to resolder, align, repair, replace, sand down, etc... and without dropping serious wads of cash, we're looking at tedious, disjointed sessions here and there. This especially appeals to the person who feels like they’d rather learn the work for future reference, rather than just take it in and pay the money, and we know a lot of folk in Denton like that.

We will be covering the specifics of both Tex’s Tubs and Miller Guitar Works in an upcoming Gear'd column, but for now, go to Last Sundays and rest assured that you’re in good hands (after signing the necessary waivers). With sufficient interest and attendance, Last Sundays will be a monthly event and could even lead to an ongoing appointment based maker-space type of thing.

Facebook Event for June's Last Sundays

MAY DENTON CREATIVES MIXER VIDEO

Alyssa Stevenson June 17, 2013

Remember when we all gathered in the hot sun at the end of a long Monday at Oak st. Drafthouse and listened stories about a bunch of the creative things happening in town? You probably shook enough hands to make your palm sore. Maybe you finally met that one dude you've been following on twitter for years? Hopefully, you remember. If not, maybe that Twitter threw some Rohypnol in your beer.

This was the 2nd of the Creatives Mixers started by District 1 city councilman,Kevin Roden. The encouragement from city leaders for a different kind of business in Denton has been increasing more and more ever since the first of these gatherings. This last one was hosted by Maker Space and featured speeches from the likes of the Denton Community Market, The Dime Store, Pan Ector and Triple Threat Press.

Thankfully Fisboy (AKA Eric Michener) caught the whole thing with his camera and made a handy dandy highlight video of the evening so you can re-live it over and over. Zoom and enhance to find out if Twitter dude was anywhere near your drink. If you weren't there, you're in luck. You can watch the footage and have the opportunity to hear helpful advice from a few recent Denton business ventures without having to sit in the heat and stare directly into the sun. If you were there, you may now click through and see what you look like squinting and sweating.

LYRIC LEAK: TONY FERRARO AND THE SATANS OF SOFT ROCK

Alyssa Stevenson June 11, 2013

by Harlin Anderson

Lyric Leak is a monthly column in which Harlin Anderson highlights the lyrics from a local band's song. In it, we'll try to get down to the gnitty-gritty of what the artist(s) was going for when they wrote the song. This month, we spoke with Tony Ferraro of the infamous Tony Ferraro and the Satans of Soft Rock.

We recently hit the patio at Dan’s Silverleaf for a beer and some story swapping with the irrepressible Tony Ferraro. Amidst the rumbling of thunder clouds and the rattling of trains across the nearby tracks, talk turned to his band – Tony Ferraro and the Satans of Soft Rock – and a song that won’t stop spinning on the turntable in our brains, “Children in Fur Coats.” Sweetheart that he is, Tony was kind enough to pull back the curtain and sneak us a peek at how he do what he do.

Where did you come up with the name “Children in Fur Coats?”

TF: [Laughing] I worked at a book store for a couple of years. We had all kinds of goofy ephemera and silly bookmarks and calendars. One of them was a dog calendar that said: Your pets are like children in fur coats. I was like, isn’t that fucking weird?

What about that phrase appealed to you?

I’ve always been fascinated with royalty, religion, and the ways of old. The ways of yore. Just imagining children in fur coats. Of course, you’ve got the dog metaphor, but also my mind was like, what’s the other one? Actual children – young human children – in fur coats. It seemed silly to me at the time. Maybe not as much now. Rich people are always of interest because they’re usually pretty bratty. And…like animals in a lot of ways. They get tested, and they become, in a way, less human. So I thought what’s less human than a child wearing a fucking dead animal on their fucking shoulders? How can I tie that into the song?

So it’s a commentary of sorts?

You could say that. The interpretation is always and forever completely up to the listener. I don’t ever want to tell anybody the one thing that my song is about. I find it cheapening – as a music fan – to have an artist tell me exactly when, where, and why a song was written.

Do you enjoy sitting down and trying to unravel the mysteries of specific songs?

I really do. I’ll write out my interpretations. I’ll write out what I think is happening in between each line. I’ve written songs that are what I think the characters are saying in between the lines of an already recorded song by my favorite artists. It’s just a big fucking game. And I feel like I get to play on this playground with these dudes even though I don’t know them.

There’s a line from the song that stuck with me. “No one will ever know your first name.”

It’s kind of a weird thing. Imagine if someone said that to you. Your identity gets kind of stripped away. You know what I mean? Like animals. They may be aware of who their mother is through very basic instinctual shit. But they don’t know names. I think that line is a play on the meaning of the names we give to things. Which are just symbols of how we feel.

How does that quality serve you as a songwriter?

Words are just words, man. Songs are great because you can do anything in them. You can do anything in art. Anything at all. Some topics are scary to people, and that’s the stuff that’s fun to talk about. The stuff that cuts. The stuff that hurts. Most of the love songs are about heartbreak. They’re not even about the good stuff that comes from love. You know? [trails into laughter]

Who are your songwriting influences?

Obviously, the shit I grew up on. The Beatles. Tom Petty. Billy Joel. But also a lot of hip hop. I love Kool Keith. He’s a big, big, big one for me – even though his catalog is so wildly hit or miss. His ethic un-fucking-stoppable. And while he doesn’t always put out great records, he doesn’t stop. He says crazy wild things, and that makes me feel like I can do anything. It’s like the fucking possibilities are, in fact, endless. And that’s an empowering feeling.

Tell me about the line: “you don’t have to fight for your right to be free.”

Freedom untethered.

How difficult is that to achieve?

Well, that lines not really about freedom, is it? I mean, not to me. If I could step outside of it, I would say it’s about the right to be free. Yes, we’re Americans. That right to things is stuck in us. So it’s an interesting concept to play with. Having a vague line like that leaves if more open to interpretation. It’s more of a mystery to me, which is why I wanted to put it down. But if I had to hit it like an English major, I’d say it’s not about freedom necessarily. It’s about whether you have to fight for it or not. Take the kids in fur coats. They don’t have to fight for shit. They’re given everything. It gives a grandiose, romantic image to freedom – and your right to it. But it’s also saying you don’t have to fight for this. We’re going to hand this to you. Just be quiet. Don’t drink out of the toilet. You’ll always have a home because I chose you.

Do you consider yourself free?

Of course. Yes.

Have you had to sacrifice certain things to maintain that freedom?

We all do. Every one of us has to.

What do you think working a 9 to 5 job would do to your creativity and freedom?

A 9 to 5? Insurance. Definitely insurance. I don’t know. I just consider myself wildly lucky that I get to do this, and it’s only gotten better over the last few years. The last time I worked a 9 to 5 was right before I started making records. I ditched that and went back to easy fast cash, so I could have time to work on this. I get by. Sometimes the shows give me food. Sometimes they give me beer. Sometimes they help me pay my phone bill. You know?

If you could sit down with any songwriter from any generation, who would it be?

Oh my god. That is the worst question ever. You son of a bitch. [Laughing] Fuck you, man. [More laughing.] Elvis Costello is the easy choice, but if I really have to answer that – Billy Joel. We’d probably write a song. It’d probably take us three hours. Six hours, maybe. I don’t know. We’d be drunk. We would get drunk. But we’d start somewhere strong. Then maybe keep emailing each other over a couple weeks. Be like, ah, I wrote a fucking coda! I don’t know. I love him because of my childhood. I recognize his powerful lameness in the grand scheme of his career, but I would still love to just hang out with him. He reminds me a lot of my father – my father’s a New York guy. Let’s go with Billy Joel. You know it, I know it, anyone reading this is gonna know that I love Billy Joel.

As it has so many times before, the broaching of Billy Joel in a Denton bar – along with the raining of cats and dogs – signaled the end of the evening’s festivities. Keep your ears on and your eyes out for the next appearance of Tony Ferraro and the Satans of Soft Rock. It’s a helluva a show, and your absence will not be excused.

“Children in Fur Coats”

Children in fur coats

Always thinking

How to kill two birds

Pass us the olives

No, no Peeps now

I’m watching my stories

No that is not a fountain

No you don’t have to fight for your

Right to be free

No one will ever

Know your first names/I am not joking

Children in fur coats

You need to know

That you will always have a home here

You don’t have to fight for your right to be free

You will always have a home here

You don’t have to fight for your right to be free

Tony Ferraro, Ryan Thomas Becker, Justin Collins, Chris Gomez, & formerly Dave Howard are The Satans of Soft Rock.

You can check out Satans of Soft Rock here.

DENTON LIT: APRIL MURPHY

Alyssa Stevenson May 23, 2013

This post is part of our monthly collaboration with Spiderweb Salon in which they show off the best of Denton's literary artists. This month, they're sharing the work of April Murphy.

Artist introduction and photos by Courtney Marie.

April Murphy is a writer who strives, like many of us, to create and not starve. She writes mostly creative nonfiction, though she sometimes dabbles in fiction, poetry, and songwriting. She’s been told that her writing is matter-of-fact and tends toward black humor and sentimentality. If you’re an emotional person and sometimes find yourself looking for anatomical charts on Etsy, there’s a good chance you’ll like her stuff. Murphy is currently working on a nonfiction book entitled Shrouded. It is a collection of essays weaving together her family history, the funeral home industry’s treatment of women, and exploring life and death as gendered spaces.

Before moving to Denton, Murphy spent much of her life in rural outposts of the chilly North East and Mid-West. She’ll tell you how the four years she’s lived in Denton have warmed her heart – she has found a great community of writers and artists here, and says it’s hard not to stay inspired in such a supportive and interesting place. She is currently finishing up a PhD in Creative writing at UNT, but won’t limit her professional ambitions to the academic world. She wants to always be writing, publishing, and performing, and hopes her first book will be published in the next few years.

In cahoots with Denton’s artist collective, Spiderweb Salon, Murphy has agreed to share an excerpt of her short fiction with us. This excerpt is from a larger piece entitled “Partners.” Other accessible works of hers include “Puppy Tail,” “Vanilla Bones,” and “The Caves.” Check it out and be sure to keep up with April’s involvement in Spiderweb Salon, where she has presented multiple readings and performed her music as well. Some of her original writings will appear in the next Spiderweb zine: The Collaborative Issue, to be released this Friday!

-Excerpt from “Partners”

Despite the unconventional cases he took, Mr. Percy had a strong conservative streak, like all those in the funeral industry. The only unorthodox thing about him was the fact that he was a Braves fan in upstate New York’s Red Sox territory. He’d inherited the team along with the funeral home and the Republican Party from his Southern grandfather.

Maggie wasn’t lucky enough to have family in the business. Her parents, both English teachers, had never understood her aptitude for sciences. They had supported her through 4 years of pre-med and did the best they could to understand why their daughter was never interested in the books they sent at Christmas, why she only responded to their pages long emails with a short paragraph. When Maggie failed her MCATs, the relationship with her family strained. When she brought home Krystal, the pretty blonde she’d met in a cadaver lab, it broke completely. So much for books opening the mind.

For a while after that, Maggie worked days as a barista and evenings as a grocery store clerk, too busy with affording her shitty apartment and paying back her college loans to allow herself to really feel as scared as she was about the rootless life she was leading.

Krystal was there for it all, quick with a kind word but busy with double shifts and EMT training. They didn’t see each other much, and when they did both of them were usually too tired for conversation.

Maggie applied for a temp job as an embalming assistant with The Percy Family Funeral home around their two-year anniversary. Mr. Percy hired her because of her background in anatomy and paid her enough so that she could leave the coffee shop and Price Chopper. After about six months, satisfied with her reliability and resourcefulness, he offered her the apartment above the home and sponsored her through her associates degree in mortuary science.

She never asked him why he did it. She was nervous, afraid that if she drew attention to her good luck it would go away, she’d have to start over again.

Mr. Percy seemed to think that adding her to the staff allowed him to start over too. He liked to joke around the office that after three generations of Percy and Sons, it was about time the funeral home had a lady’s touch. Maggie suspected that his sons, no more interested in the dead trade than she was in Shakespeare, had broken something between them too.

3 SONGS: MAY

will milne May 21, 2013

The cover of Daniel Markham's upcoming record, Daniel Markham Ruined My Life — The cover of Daniel Markham's upcoming record, *Daniel Markham Ruined My Life*

Every month, we like to take a quick look into the Denton music scene and highlight three recent songs from current Denton bands. Last month, we heard from Terminator 2, Skagg Phillips and Chambers. This month, our three entries are slightly less disparate from one another, but are a great cross-section of what Dan's Silverleaf might be like any day of the week. Read on to hear music from the likes of Daniel Markham, Biographies and Bashe.

Denton transplant via Lubbock, Daniel Markham, has quickly found his territory in the Denton music scene. During his short time here, he’s been prolific enough to put out two releases. Last year’s Hexagons EP found Markham layering fuzzy guitar over simple drum loops, sounding something not unlike Jesu. His latest, however, is a different beast, altogether. In "My Favorite Band" (track four out of Daniel Markham first full-length solo record entitled Daniel Markham Ruined My Life), we find Markham exhuming a very specific portion of the sounds heard on Hexagons. Anything resembling a distortion pedal has been done away with in favor of pedal steel guitar, honest-to-goodness drums and honest-to-goodness earnesty. The sound evokes Cardinals-era Ryan Adams or Denton’s late Current Leaves, both of which should leave you with anticipation. While the subject matter at hand still remains a “bummer,” this tune is sure to be great company to that bourbon and porch night you had planned.

Biographies represents what we’re going to call the post-Seryn folk scene in Denton. Large, coed bands with vocals coming from every possible angle, and choruses that build until your eyes bulge. Biographies, however, is thankfully a bit different. These young twenty somethings have reached further back than their memories can reach and harken sounds not unlike Sunny Day Real Estate and other mid-90’s emotional hardcore. On Looking Inward is the centerpiece of their recently-released self-titled EP. The track manages to jam pack all of the different themes represented on the album into a quick seven minutes. The song climaxes about three-quarters of the way through with unintelligible screams and a gigantic wall of sound and then saunters it’s way out with a slinky bass line and a haunting female voice that washes away all the screaming. This is very promising for a band so young. Catch these kids live if you get the chance, too. They put on a great show.

Bashe features an ex-member of Peopleodeon. If you thought Denton was missing a good math rock band, Bashe is the solution to your problem. Seapunk is the first single Bashe has released and is also featured on the recently-released DFW compilation No Metro. While some may be put off by the term math rock, let it be known that Seapunk is poppy and disco-y enough to get even the un-bounciest of butts a-shakin’ and is catchy enough to leave with you a bad earworm for hours after listening.